Posts by Rattigan350

9

Prayers

by Rattigan350 in

when i read online forums about when someone dies or something bad happens, people comment saying "sending prayers".. i wonder, why, what for?

prayers have not brought anyone back from the dead.

have they healed anyone?

Rattigan350

When I read online forums about when someone dies or something bad happens, people comment saying "sending prayers".

I wonder, why, what for? Prayers have not brought anyone back from the dead. Have they healed anyone? Hard to say

whether it is the body or help beyond that.

I just feel so uncomfortable with prayer because it does not make sense.

Like when people pray before a meal. The concept is that Jesus prayed before giving out the fish to feed the multitude. That was a miracle. Miracles like that don't happen. Today it is like what Bart Simpson said "Why give thanks, I bought the food with my money".

47

Question About 607BCE and How That Date Was Picked - Help JW Scholars

by Comatose in

so i've been sharing some a little at a time with my sister.

she is married and very scared of actually learning too much.

she doesn't want to ruin her marriage.

Rattigan350

Where did 607 come from? Say what? Nelson Barbour is the one that applied the 70 years from the restoration of Jerusalem to the destruction. 537-607.

Prior to that, the chronology scholars believed the destruction was in 586 and that the 7 times ending or gentile times was independent of the destruction of Jerusalem. Daniel looked to the seventy years because he knew when it started, when Daniel was taken captive in 607. The 70 years ran from 607-537, but they started at the first captivity, not the destruction. That is what the pre Barbour scholars believed, which I accept.

32

Another Revised NWT Thread - subtly sowing seeds of doubt with chart

by mindnumbed in

pages 1744 thru 1746 feature a chart of the kings of the southern kingdom, ending with zedekiah in 607.. praise the new bible and all of the teaching aids .... draw attention to kings list and how convenient that is ... but, strangely, i decided to look up information in an encyclopedia about the different kings, and the dates are not the same ... so i checked a couple of sources and they are all different than the chart in the bible .... why would that be?.

Rattigan350

"So, it's not just 607 that the WTS is at odds with modern historians but the whole of the kings of Israel chronology. How do they get away with this? What sources do they use?"

Say what? This is not news. This is how they have calculated it since Nelson Barbour came up with the 70 years from Restoration of jerusalem to destruction. 537-607 for the destruction of Jerusalem and then worked back. There is a 20 difference between that and the 586ers. Russell took that then Rutherford and everyone since that time.

56

Never Become Enraged with Jehovah (tomorrow's WT Study)....pure vomit

by raymond frantz in

never become enraged against jehovah.

(watchtower study 7-13 october).

paragraph 4.

Rattigan350

I didn't like this when it was a talk at the 2010 convention.

I don't understand why people defend God. Why does God need defending?

He has the power to fix things but does not.

Witnesses say that man's governments can't solve the problems, but at least man is trying.

God has the power but he is not trying.

2

AGM Watchtower Study Recording

by julielw in

does anyone know where i can find a recording of this.

i found recordings of everthing else and need a copy of this one.

i found a youtube video but if i try to record it the quality is really poor..

Rattigan350

The Watchtower Summary was Loche's part.

60

Paul belived paradise was heaven

by DS211 in

now i want all to add whatever they want to.

i was just reading the bible reading for tonights meeting and started 2 cor 12...and what i noticed was that paul here is revealing something, a revelation or vision of sorts, here it says (and its from the nwt for lurkers).

12 i have to boast.

Rattigan350

Why does it matter what Paul said?

He was not a prophet. He was a Jewish historian.

That is what turned me off to religion. It is all about, Paul said, Peter said, James, John, Jesus, etc.

They said something 2 thousand years ago. now what?

9

The worst thing to have pride in

by Rattigan350 in

i really hate it when kids on interviews on meetings or assemblies and they state with pride that they turned down the piece of cake or brownie or other birthday treat at school.

is that something to really be proud of?

it is not as if the teacher is tempting them.

Rattigan350

I really hate it when kids on interviews on meetings or assemblies and they state with pride that they turned down the piece of cake or brownie or other birthday treat at school. Is that something to really be proud of? It is not as if the teacher is tempting them. If you give up loyalty to your God, you can have this cake. Teacher is not focusing on God at all. It is a case of parents telling them something and they follow it.

18

Why do you think they changed their mind on organ transplants?

by Separation of Powers in

from 1967 to early 1980, the watchtower stated that organ transplants were tantamount to "cannibalism.

" then, suddenly, the position was changed to organ transplants being a "conscience matter.

" so, my question, why the change?

Rattigan350

Because there was never a change. What was written in 1967 was Fred Franz' personal pet project, not official doctrine (though some believe it to have been. That got published because everyone rubber stamped what Fred wrote. But notice that it never got taught again because after that in 1970, the governing body was formulated and expanded, so it was more that Fred Franz.

111

Who is your favorite "Apostate"? Who helped you see the truth about "The Truth"?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i would have to say that ray franz was the biggest influence for me.. when i first got on this board, a poster by the name of james, a former bethelite and organization heavy, helped me understand a lot of the inner workings in the upper echelons of the society.. .

and of course, farkel's common sense approach was (usually) helpful..

Rattigan350

It is the self-centeredness of the organization that did it or me and also the cult following mentality of the people.

1

This gave me a good laugh

by Rattigan350 in

i remembered the name of a pioneer sister i knew from the mid 80s.. i looked her up on facebook.

i found her under her maiden name as she was married when i knew her.. however she is now married to a patricia and is a lesbian and has exjw links on her page.. an expioneer,exjw now lesbian.

that's just great.

Rattigan350

I remembered the name of a pioneer sister I knew from the mid 80s.

I looked her up on Facebook. I found her under her maiden name as she was married when I knew her.

However she is now married to a Patricia and is a lesbian and has exjw links on her page.

An expioneer,exJW now lesbian. That's just great. One less pioneer Witness out there.